Prep

Dear Prep families,

Wow, Week Four of Term Two already! Time flies when you are in Prep. We have had a very busy fortnight of learning and celebrations. Student Led Three-Way Conferences were a success and our Mother’s Day afternoon was an absolute joy. We were fortunate to welcome you into our classrooms to share a special afternoon of classroom activities, shared with your children. 

Student Led Three-Way Conferences

Teachers were overwhelmed by the wonderful conversations that were had on Tuesday 9th of May with parents, carers and students.

It was a positive opportunity to shine the light on your child’s learning and for teachers to collaborate with families to support our Preps. Your children are to be congratulated as they reflected on their work and shared what was involved, including their knowledge of the topic. You are all risk-takers! Well done Preps and thank-you families for taking the time to come to your child’s place of learning. It really does take a village to raise a child. 

Mother’s Day Afternoon

Such a wonderful afternoon was had by our Preps with their Mum or special person on the 12th of May. Our students had been busy during the week reading texts about mothers and creating a Mother’s Day card that involved practising their writing skills and communicating their feelings. Your children were thoughtful to also put their emotions into words as part of a class video that was shared with our special visitors. It was a delight to see our Preps using their speaking and listening skills to work collaboratively with their special person to create a Mother’s Day craft activity. Smiles were seen all around!

Reading

In Reading, students continue to make and justify their predictions and practise a variety of reading strategies. We have been practising to give a retell and summary of familiar texts and explore the similarities and differences between the two. Preps are becoming more familiar with the routine and expectations of guided reading groups, displaying their skills and understandings with their teachers. During this time, students are being risk-takers to take on the feedback given to decode unfamiliar words and attend to meaning. They are also building their reading stamina to independently read for longer periods of time.

Writing

In Writing, we continue to focus on correctly constructing a sentence that begins with a capital letter, has spaces between each word, and ends with a punctuation mark. Consideration to spelling words correctly has been a focus by using strategies such as - referring to key ring words and stretching out unfamiliar words and listening to the sounds made before identifying the letter and writing it. We then reread our sentences to ensure they make sense and communicate our idea. We have been practising forming letters correctly and have been using dotted thirds to practise the correct sizing and placement of our letters.  

Mathematics

In Mathematics, we have applied our knowledge of 2D shapes, to identify and sort 3D shapes. Students identified shapes in their environment and discussed the features of each. We also had fun to create our own 3D shapes using a variety of materials such as play-dough or pipe cleaners. We have also been exploring teen numbers and identifying numbers that come ‘before’ and ‘after’ and from a variety of starting points.

Inquiry Unit of Study

Our new inquiry is all about the Central Idea ‘Managing emotions can help us understand ourselves and others’.

The lines of Inquiry that our prep students will be learning about include: 

- The role of communication to express feelings (Function – how does it work?) 

- The interpretation of change in emotions (Change – How is it transforming?) 

- The value of applying initiative to manage emotions (Responsibility – What are our obligations?) 

Reminders

• Students are expected to bring their blue satchel to school EVERY DAY, along with their two take home readers and key ring words. Please make time to read each night with your child and discuss what happened in the text as this is an important part of their reading development.
• Students are expected to bring their charged iPads to school EVERY DAY, along with a pair of headphones. Headphones will assist with controlling noise levels when all students use their devices. Please ensure all of your child’s belongings are clearly labelled with their first and last names.
• Please pack a change of underwear, socks and shorts/pants in case your child has a toileting accident. These items should be stored in your child’s bag and clearly labelled.
• Please check that your child is wearing the proper school uniform, especially closed toed shoes. It they are out of uniform for a given reason, please provide this in writing to the classroom teacher.
• Attendance continues to play an integral role in your child’s learning achievements. If your child is unwell, please ensure the reason for absence has been communicated with the school. EVERY DAY COUNTS.
• *Congratulations to Prep H for achieving the second highest attendance record in the school for week 2!

Warm regards, 

The Prep Teaching Team